Souvenirs de Guerre / Memories of War

During the First World War, the Canadian Expeditionary Force captured 516 cannons, 304 trench mortars, 3,500 light and heavy machine-guns, and 44 airplanes, treating them as war trophies. Recorded in official reports and chalk-marked with the identifiers of the battalions that had taken them, these captured pieces became tangible examples of victory. After arriving in Canada, the collection was dispersed across the country for public display in buildings and parks. In 1926, the Controller of War Trophies asked the National Battlefields Commission to preserve and display seven artillery guns captured from the German army, and they were placed at different locations on the Plains of Abraham. Since then, they have been brought together as a testimony to victory and, above all, to the efforts and sacrifices of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Quebec · Canada